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Query: UMLS:C0241981 (loss of balance)
 452 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

"Fatigue on Rest", headache, vertigo and the feeling of loss of balance, blurred vision, nausea, tension and irritability, were found to be prevalent amongst patients who had locally asymptomatic, unerupted impacted teeth. A comparative pressure sign was developed, which, when positive, confirmed the relationship between the impacted teeth and the medical symptoms. Removal of the impactions resulted in the alleviation of the symptoms. Stress and psychogenic factors are considered as trigger mechanisms, rather than as basic causes of the symptoms.
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PMID:"Fatigue on rest" and associated symptoms (headache, vertigo, blurred vision, nausea, tension and irritability) due to locally asymptomatic, unerupted, impacted teeth. 45 87

American trypanosomiasis (Chagas' disease) is an endemic parasitic disease afflicting more than 20 million persons in Latin America. Two drugs are currently being used for treatment of the acute phase of Chagas' disease: 4-[(5-nitrofurfurylidene)amino-3-methylthiomorpholine-1,1-di oxide] (Nifurtimox; Nfx) and (N-benzl-2-nitro-1-imidazole acetamide) (Benznidazole; Bz). Nfx and Bz have serious undesirable effects, which have been reported during their clinical use, including anorexia and weight loss, nausea and vomiting, nervous excitation, insomnia, psyche depressions, convulsions, vertigo, headache, sleepiness, myalgias, arthralgias, loss of balance, disorientation, forgetfulness, paresthesias, adynamia, acoustic phenomena, peripheral neuropathies, gastralgia, mucosal edema, hepatic intolerance, skin manifestations, and intolerance to drinking alcohol. Effects in the central and peripheral nervous system of Nfx were also reproduced in animals. Signs of testicular and ovarian injury were reported for both Nfx and Bz, the effects of Bz being in general less intense than those of Nfx. Both drugs evidenced mutagenicity. In light of the present knowledge about the toxicity of Nfx and Bz, further studies on the mutagenic, teratogenic, carcinogenic, and reproductive effects of both drugs are recommended. Lack of information is particularly serious for Bz. Studies on Nfx and Bz biotransformation, activation to reactive metabolites, and potential mechanisms for their toxic effects were analyzed. Risk-benefit considerations of the use of Nfx and Bz were made and an analysis of the need for research on Chagas' disease chemotherapy was also performed.
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PMID:Toxic effects of nifurtimox and benznidazole, two drugs used against American trypanosomiasis (Chagas' disease). 315 55

Many drugs, chemical substances and agents are potentially toxic to the human auditory system. The extent of toxicity depends on numerous factors. With few exceptions, toxicity in the auditory system affects various organs or cells within the cochlea or vestibular system, with brain stem and other central nervous system involvement reported with some chemicals and agents. This ototoxicity usually presents as a decrease in auditory sensitivity, tinnitus and/or vertigo or loss of balance. Classical and newer audiological techniques used in clinical assessment are beneficial in specifying the site of lesion in the cochlea, although auditory test results, themselves, give little information regarding possible pathology or etiology within the cochlea. Typically,, ototoxicity results in high frequency hearing loss, progressive as a function of frequency, usually accompanied by tinnitus and occasionally by vertigo or loss of balance. Auditory testing protocols are necessary to document this loss in auditory function.
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PMID:Clinical assessment of auditory dysfunction. 704 78

Two female patients with an adenocarcinoma of the colon (Duke stages B and C) underwent colectomy followed by adjuvant chemotherapy combining 5 fluorouracil (5 FU) and levamisole. Secondary neurological manifestations occurred in both patients including vertigo, nausea and vomiting, dizziness with loss of balance, slow ideation, impaired memory, headache and, on one case, central origin facial paralysis. Symptoms appeared between the 11th and 34th week of treatment. The patients had received 9 to 30 g 5 FU and 2.7 to 7.6 g levamisole. CT scan and/or MRI first suggested cerebral metastases then demyelinisation. The clinical signs disappeared spontaneously in less than one month. The brain images were unchanged. The 5 FU/levamisole combination was undoubtedly responsible for the neurological manifestations. Levamisole may have potentialized the effect of 5 FU leading to demyelinisation. Whether chemotherapy should be stopped or not is debated.
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PMID:[Multifocal inflammatory leukoencephalopathy: a complication of chemotherapy by fluorouracil and levamisole]. 774 17

The structured clinical history is the most sensitive test for diagnosing vertigo. Its diagnostic effectiveness on the first visit was analyzed and key signs and symptoms with high predictive value for common causes of vertigo were identified. One hundred outpatients who complained of dizziness or loss of balance were evaluated using a structured clinical interview. Each questionnaire was examined independently by three blinded investigators, who assigned a diagnosis and identified the elements of the history that figured most prominently in the diagnosis. The gold standard was defined as independent selection of the same diagnostic category by all three investigators. A first-visit diagnosis was obtained in 40% of patients (95% confidence interval 30-50%): 38% women and 42% men. Causes included benign positional paroxysmal vertigo (BPPV, 13 patients), headache-associated vertigo (9), Meniere disease (7), cervical vertigo (3), psychiatric dizziness (2), post-traumatic vertigo (2), vertebro-basilar transient ischemic attack (1), vestibular neuritis (1), convulsive seizure (1), and presyncope (1). The best predictors of BPPV were the precipitating mechanism (specificity [SP] 100%), positional nystagmus (sensitivity [SE] 90%, SP 63%), and the Dix-Hallpike test (SE 82%, SP 71%). Elements predictive of headache-associated vertigo were duration of the attack (minutes) and a personal history of headache (both, SP 100%). Other predictors were facial hypoesthesia (SE 92%, SP 47%) and associated neurological disease (SE 82%, SP 58%).
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PMID:[Diagnosis of common causes of vertigo using a structured clinical history]. 1079 28

In the elderly patient, instability is a syndrome in which a loss of balance, during ambulation or while standing, can give rise to falls, with consequent disability and morbidity. Maintaining the correct static and dynamic balance is known to be the result of the synergetic functioning of different systems. In old age, however, the efficiency of these mechanisms is impaired because of the physiological process of aging, which affects all of the organs and systems of the human body. Besides that, different concomitant causes such as cardiovascular and dysmetabolic pathologies, chronic pharmacological therapies etc. contribute to the aging of our organism. The object of this study was to evaluate 40 subjects, 21 males and 19 females, aged between 70 and 86, who were referred to us with craniofacial trauma consequent to a fall. Upon hospitalization, all of the patients were asked to fill in a questionnaire evaluating the incidence of the vertigo symptom as a possible cause of the falls. All of the subjects underwent the following clinicoinstrumental examinations: standard audiometric evaluation, vestibular tests, neurological and ophthalmic examination. Careful appraisal of the results obtained enabled us to conclude that balance disorders in the elderly patient are due to the synergetic action of three factors: aging, concomitant diseases and environmental factors. In conclusion, we can affirm that balance disorders giving rise to a fall in the elderly are attributable to the concomitance of different factors that determine a clinical state of imbalance, defined by some Authors with the term "presbivertigo". It follows that a suitable diagnostic protocol must be employed, comprising a detailed medical, pharmacological and functional history, a study both of the environmental conditions in which the patient lives and the modalities according to which the traumatic event occurred. It is, last of all, indispensable that steps be taken to improve these environmental conditions, such as choosing flooring materials, light fixtures, stairs, bathroom furnishings and suitable footwear promoting proper foot placement and support on the ground.
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PMID:[Balance disorders in the elderly]. 1251 Mar 36

Symptoms of balance disorders including 'unsteadiness', 'dizziness and vertigo' are common in the elderly and commonly found in general practice in medicine. There are many causes of balance disorders and vary from one person to another. Disorder of the internal ear or vestibular end-organ type is one cause. Unsteadiness of somato-sensory or proprioception is common in the elderly so is degenerative disorder of central control in brain. The elderly are prone to many chronic illnesses or disorders which are causes of balance disorder or give rise to more rapid degeneration of the central nervous system i.e. high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, heart disease, proprioception and joint problems, arthritis and muscular weakness due to lack of good health and exercise. The objectives of this research study were to find the etiologies of balance disorders and how Balance Exercises and the 'National Health Service' can be of benefit in helping to prevent them. 1565 elderly inhabitants (age > or = 60 years) of 20 communities adjacent to Siriraj Hospital were selected for study. Among these, 625 persons had a history of balance disorders. Among those, 256 had symptoms during the week selected for examination. The average age was 66 years old, women outnumbered men with a ratio of 2.4:1. The common underlying causes were hypertension in 32.4%, diabetes mellitus 13.8%, arthritis 8.1%, and heart disease 4.4% respectively. All are still taking one or more types of drug. The subjects were randomly divided into two groups for the study purpose of effectiveness of balance exercise. Group 1 did not perform the head balance exercise and Group 2 performed the head balance exercise. Audiometric testing showed impaired hearing in 90% of the subjects. The majority slowed hearing loss in high frequencies. Testing of middle ear function found 75% of Group 1 to have normal middle ear function 77% of Group 2. Brainstem Electrical Response Audiometry (BERA) showed normal response latencies of in 96% of group 1 and 94% of Group 2. Poor morphology of waveform was found in 12% of Group 1 and 16% of Group 2. Doppler sonography for intra-cranial blood flow measurement showed abnormal flow of the ICA in 17.6% of group 1 and 20.16% of group 2. Basilar arterial abnormal flow was found in 77.6% of Group 1 and 80.6% of Group 2 respectively. The flow of ICA was improved after 8 weeks in both groups. The measurement of balance by Posturography showed 86.7% abnormality in Group 1 and 83.5% abnormality in Group 2 (and the majority due to inner ear problems but many cases had a mixture of joints and CNS problems too). Results of the self-evaluation (by questionaires) showed the elderly to have symptoms of light headedness in 51% and loss of balance in 29%, Vertigo with rotation occurred in 23.6%. 49% of the symptoms were intermittent, 56.4% experienced a 'fall". On questioning about the benefit and performance of Head and Neck Exercises, 82.8% found the exercises were easy to perform, 56.4% said the results were very beneficial.
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PMID:Balance disorders in the elderly and the benefit of balance exercise. 1556 Jul 2

Behavioral factors are an integral part of the overall morbidity of patients with vertigo, dizziness, and balance disorders. Anxiety, depression, and more importantly, loss of balance confidence and sense of debility and handicap beleaguer patients with acute and chronic vestibular symptoms. Vestibular rehabilitation originated as a physical therapy, but a careful look at its research development and clinical applications show it to be as much, or perhaps more, a behavioral intervention. More patients referred for vestibular rehabilitation require habituation to chronic vestibular symptoms and motion sensitivity than compensation for active peripheral or central vestibular deficits. Vestibular rehabilitation may exert a positive effect on behavioral morbidity, but the benefits are somewhat uneven and do not always correlate with physical improvements. Health anxiety (i.e., excessive worry about the cause and consequences of physical symptoms) is an emerging concept in clinical psychiatry and psychology. It may offer an important key to understanding the debility and handicap experienced by many patients with vestibular symptoms and enhance the ability of vestibular rehabilitation to ameliorate their suffering.
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PMID:Behavioral aspects of vestibular rehabilitation. 2202 80

We report an endovascular approach that used to treat a symptomatic extracranial vertebral artery aneurysm associated to an asymptomatic aberrant right subclavian artery aneurysm. A 54-year-old man presented with neck pain, vertigo and loss of balance. The computed tomography (CT) scan demonstrated a left extracranial vertebral artery aneurysm that compressed and eroded the C5 vertebra associated to an aberrant right subclavian artery aneurysm. Endovascular exclusion of the vertebral aneurysm using a covered stent and a hybrid treatment of the aberrant subclavian artery aneurysm were performed. The 13th month follow-up CT scan confirmed the stent-grafts and supra-aortic vessels patency. The endovascular treatment represents a good option for these complex pathologies with excellent immediate results, reduces the complication rate and the hospital stay if compared to open repair. Long-term follow-up is necessary. To our knowledge this is a unique case in the literature.
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PMID:Endovascular treatment of extracranial vertebral artery aneurysm and aberrant right subclavian artery aneurysm. 2467 Aug 33

Mefloquine is a quinoline derivative antimalarial which demonstrates promise for the treatment of schistosomiasis. Traditionally employed in prophylaxis and treatment of chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum malaria, recent changes to the approved European and U.S. product labeling for mefloquine now warn of a risk of permanent and irreversible neurological sequelae including vertigo, loss of balance and symptoms of polyneuropathy. The newly described permanent nature of certain of these neurological effects challenges the conventional belief that they are due merely to the long half-life of mefloquine and its continued presence in the body, and raises new considerations for the rational use of the drug against parasitic disease. In this opinion, it is proposed that many of the reported lasting adverse neurological effects of mefloquine are consistent with the chronic sequelae of a well characterized but idiosyncratic central nervous system (CNS) toxicity syndrome (or toxidrome) common to certain historical antimalarial and antiparasitic quinolines and associated with a risk of permanent neuronal degeneration within specific CNS regions including the brainstem. Issues in the development and licensing of mefloquine are then considered in the context of historical awareness of the idiosyncratic CNS toxicity of related quinoline drugs. It is anticipated that the information presented in this opinion will aid in the future clinical recognition of the mefloquine toxidrome and its chronic sequelae, and in informing improved regulatory evaluation of mefloquine and related quinoline drugs as they are explored for expanded antiparasitic use and for other indications.
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PMID:Idiosyncratic quinoline central nervous system toxicity: Historical insights into the chronic neurological sequelae of mefloquine. 2505 61


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